Pen & Sword Ltd.

Reported Missing: Lost Airmen of the Second World War

by  Roy Conyers Nesbit

Reviewed By  Brian R. Baker, IPMS# 43146

MSRP: $39.99 ISBN: 978-1-84415-822-5 Hardback: 224 Pages, 60 Illustrations Provided by Casemate Publishing, Website: www.casematepublishing.com Roy Nesbit was a navigator and bomb aimer in the RAF Coastal Command during World War II, flying mainly in Beauforts. He has made a study of the air and sea war, and has published a number of titles on this subject. His firsthand knowledge of the topic is clearly evident in this book. This particular book deals with what I found to be a very interesting topic, airmen who went missing during the war, and their eventual fates. This material, with perhaps one exception, has never been covered in any publication before, and certainly not with the completeness as this author describes it. There are numerous illustrations, some of which are very general in nature, and the author provides a lot of background information that is probably familiar to dedicated military history buffs. To the casual reader, however, the background information is essential to the understanding of the events. To quote the late great Paul Harvey, this book provides "The rest of the story". The book is divided into six chapters, each describing a particular airman and his ultimate fate. The first section deals with a Czech fighter pilot, Sgt. Augustin Preucil, who flew with the Czech, French and British air forces before defecting to the Germans in September, 1941, delivering to them an intact Hurricane Mk. 1, which eventually wound up in a Berlin museum before being destroyed in a bombing raid. The author researched Preucil's subsequent wartime activities, which included interrogation of British and Czech POW's captured by the Germans, and his eventual fate. The second chapter tells the amazing story of the crew of an RAF Beaufort operating from Malta against Italian shipping in the Mediterranean. They were shot down off the coast of Greece, and became POW's of the Italians. While being transported to Italy, they managed to overpower the crew of the Cant Z.506B floatplane and fly the airplane all the way back to Malta, where they arrived safely despite the attentions of some Spitfire pilots, who weren't aware of the situation. The author calls this the first "skyjacking", although I am aware of one that happened in the U.S. ten years previously. Other chapters describe the career of Wing Commander Adrian Ashburton, one of the most effective RAF reconnaissance pilots of World War II. He flew numerous missions, and was decorated by both the RAF and the USAAF for his accomplishments. He was shot down in April, 1944, over Germany, in a Lockheed F-5, and the author provides unpublished details of the recovery and investigation of the crash site. In addition, the career and final fate of the famous writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery are given in detail, especially since he was well known to members of the British, French, and American high commands, and constantly badgered them for a chance to fly on operations, even though he was considered, by the standards of the day, way too old for combat flying. Although his final fate is still obscure, the author gives an interesting account of his career and probable demise. The last two chapters describe two RAF Lancaster raids in which aircraft were lost, and the eventual fates of some of the aircrews who were known to have landed safely before being captured by the Germans. Several were murdered by civilians, probably in vengeful acts relating to the RAF's incendiary attacks on German cities that were going on at the time. In all, this book was interesting reading. The author seems to have researched his topic well, although I found a couple of glitches. The Focke Wulf FW-190D was powered by a "Jumo" engine, not a "Jumbo". Probably that was a typographical error. More obvious was the misidentification of two aircraft in a photo on page 115, which identified a Lockheed Lodestar and a Stinson L-5 as a Douglas C-47 and an Auster. Otherwise, the photos are excellent, including some interesting ones of the Italian Cant Z 506B. And the "Defected Hurrricane" photo taken during wartime in the German museum provides enough information for a model. However, it was a good read, and I learned a lot from it. Recommended. Thanks to Casemate Publishing co. and IPMS for the review copy. You can order directly from Casemate at www.casematepublishing.com.